Cortland survives Stevens, 10-9, to move on in D-III tourney

Cortland – Mike Kaminski did not deny the way his nerves seized him in that last 12.3 seconds. The Cortland goalie, so good all evening in the cage, understood that a single misstep, the slightest error, would change everything here in the NCAA Division III men’s lacrosse game.

Tough, savvy Stevens possessed the ball, down a single goal to the unbeaten, top-seeded Red Dragons. It rested in the stick of leading scorer Rich Dupras, who had already recorded 52 goals this season.

In the timeout huddle, Cortland coach Steve Beville assigned his best defender, Brian Winterfeldt, to Dupras and instructed the rest of the Red Dragons defense to be ready to assist.

The whistle blew, Dupras moved from the right wing to his left. There, Matt Hoey, the short stick defender from Auburn, greeted Dupras. Hoey bodied him, checked his stick, dislodged the ball and as it kicked around, tantalizingly close to the Cortland cage, time expired.

The Red Dragons escaped with a 10-9 win. They will play another day.

“Thirteen seconds, that’s it. I’m thinking it’s down to me. If the ball comes at me, I gotta get in front of it,” Kaminski said. “But I had a lot of confidence in my guys. They bailed me out.”

“Give (Stevens) all the credit for playing great,” Beville said, “but our guys hung in and got the win.”

The unbeaten Red Dragons, now 19-0, move on to play Union (13-4) on Wednesday at a time to be determined in Cortland’s stadium. The teams met earlier this season, with Cortland winning 6-4.

If the Red Dragons learned anything from Saturday’s victory, it’s that nothing comes easy in the postseason.

Cortland, which outscored opponents by an average of 12-5 this year, never led by more than three goals vs. Stevens. Alex Hofrichter ripped a 10-yard shot past Kaminski to trim Cortland’s lead to 9-8 with 7:29 left in the game.

And then Joe Slavik responded with what proved to be the game-winner.

Cortland, called for stalling and forced to keep the ball in the box, put Cody Consul behind the Stevens cage. The Red Dragons attackman pushed the corner, lost his man and found Slavik parked in the middle of the Stevens’ zone.

Slavik buried the ball low on Matthew Deiner with 3:53 left, which gave Cortland a crucial two-goal cushion.

“It was a broken-up play by Cody,” Slavik said. “Cody made a hard dodge, I just found a gap in the middle and I was able to step in there, catch it and bury it low.”

Stevens, a team that averages 15 goals per game, was not done yet. Hofrichter connected on his fourth goal of the game, this one a bullet that got the Ducks to within a single goal at 3:17.

But that was as close as Stevens would get.

The Ducks, who employed a zone defense throughout Saturday’s game, initially confounded the Red Dragons, who trailed 3-2 after the first quarter.

By the second quarter, the Red Dragons rotated players inside that zone and Cortland passers found teammates in prime scoring position. The Red Dragons scored three in a row to close out the half, the first on a man-up chance, the other two on passes to the crease that Consul and Slavik finished.

“We had to move the ball, find the skip passes, find the gaps,” Slavik said. “They got a little tired in the second half, so they were pressing out and gaps were opening up more. We had more opportunities.”

Cortland, too, got a huge boost from its defense as the half drew to a close. Playing two men down because of two slashing penalties, Kaminski (12 saves) stopped an outside bullet by Dupras. The Red Dragons cleared the ball and managed to elude the Ducks’ pressure until the penalty expired.

That kind of stalwart defense came in handy at the conclusion of the game, when the Red Dragons’ season dangled on the line.

“It was a nerve-wracking game, a great ending,” Slavik said.

“Hey, it doesn’t matter what the score is. It doesn’t matter how it happened,” Beville said. “Bottom line is we’re playing Wednesday.”